Shirt board



g- 1953 K. YOUNGBLOOD 2,648,469

SHIRT BOARD Filed April 10, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 11, 1953 K. YOUNGBLOOD SHIRT BOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 10 1950 rave.

E Yazuyblaad INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 11, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHIRT BOARD Knowles Youngblood, Atlanta, Ga. Application April 10, 1950, Serial No. 155,085

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a shirt board, generally formed of cardboard or other fibrous flexible material, and generally used by laundries as a relatively stiff backing means for a laundered shirt, around which the shirt is folded or wrapped preparatory to delivery to the customer.

One difficulty in respect to shirt boards as heretofore constructed has resided in the tendency of the shirt to slip upon the board after being wrapped thereon, as a result of which the shirt sometimes must be rewrapped, may become dirty, and in general is left without the neat appearance which it should have when delivered to the customer.

Another difficulty which has been experienced has been the tendency of the wrapping bands to slip from proper position upon the shirt and board.

The main objects of the present invention are to provide a shirt board which eliminate the difiiculties which have heretofore been experienced, and which will eliminate these difficulties without increase in the cost of shirt boards as presently constructed, and without increase in the number or difficulty of steps presently required for wrapping the shirt upon the board.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a shirt board formed in accordance With the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view on a reduced scale, a mans sport shirt being positioned thereon and illustrated during an initial stage of the wrapping operation.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, the shirt being illustrated at a later step in the wrapping operation.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 on a larger scale, the shirt being shown at the final stage of the wrapping operation, and being viewed from the rear.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, the shirt being viewed from the front.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral I designates a fiat approximately rectangular body formed of inexpensive cardboard or other fibrous flexible stock, the depth of said body, that is the dimension thereof as viewed from top to bottom of the body in Fig. 1, being approximately one-half the width of the body, that is the dimension thereof as viewed from left to right in Fig. 1. This provides a shirt board of relatively small area, so as to permit its manufacture at low cost as compared to the benefits to be obtained from the use thereof.

The body I is formed with a straight bottom edge serrated from end to end thereof, so as to define across the entire bottom of the board a row of rounded off teeth 2 spaced closely together.

Formed in the top edge of the body I, adjacent the upper corners thereof, are the shallow indentations 3, said top edge of the body being addi tionally formed, between said notches 3, with a pair of spaced oppositely inclined deep angular notches l, the inner walls 5 of which are inclined less steeply than the outer walls, the formation of said notches defining between them a wide collar-receiving tongue 6. The base of the tongue 6, extending from the bottoms of the notches 6, is formed with a weakened or scored line 1.

In use of the shirt board illustrated in- Fi'g. 1, a shirt 8 is first applied thereto as in Fig. 2. In the drawings a mans sport shirt has been illustrated, but it will be understood that this is purely for the sake of example, and the shirt board is adapted to receive any of the various ordinary types of mens shirts.

In any event, the shirt 8 is provided with the collar 9, and the tongue 6 is first slipped into the back portion of said collar, the tongue being formed conformably to the general shape of the folded collar when viewed from the rear, as'readily seen fromv Fig. 2. Thus, the collar is not distortedor deformed after ironing, and is held by the tongue 6 in the desired proper shape.

The sleeves l 0 of the shirt are next folded over the side edges of the shirt board, and folded flat upon the back surface of said board as readily seen from Fig. 2. The skirt portion of the shirt at this stage of the operation hangs straight downwardly a substantial distance below the serrated bottom edge of the shirt board, and the sides of said skirt portion are folded over as at ll, so that the depending skirt portion at this stage of the operation will not be greater in width than the width of the shirt board.

The next step in the packaging operation is to fold the shirt transversely along an imaginary line l2, extending across the shirt approximately midway between the top and bottom of said shirt.

This results in the shirt being folded over upon the folded sleeves H) as in Fig. 3, there still being a substantial portion of the shirt disposed below the serrated bottom edge of the shirt board. The amount of the shirt disposed at this stage of the operation below the serrated bottom edge of the shirt board is slightly less than the distance of the shirt board from top to bottom thereof, or stated otherwise, the depth of the board.

The shirt is now folded transversely once more, just below the serrated bottom edge of the shirt board along a transversely extended imaginary fold line 13. In making this fold, the lower portion of the shirt as seen in Fig. 3 is pulled up tightly over the teeth 2. As a result, said teeth are caused to bend, and remain bent out of the plane of the shirt board body I, and the result of this is that said teeth as long as the shirt remains wrapped around the board in its final position illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, tend to return to the plane of the body I. The shirt of course prevents the return of the teeth to their initial position, as a result of which a spring action is set up in the teeth, with said teeth tending to bind tightly against, or to bite into, the fold l3. This keeps a uniform tension upon the wrapped shirt, so that the shirt cannot work loose, and it causes a biting engagement between the fabric of the shirt and the board, which of course does not damage the shirt in any way, but which nevertheless interengages shirt and board from side to side of the wrapped shirt, in a manner to prevent, with positiveness, any slippage of the shirt.

When the shirt has been folded in this manner, paper strips or bands are wrapped around the shirt at opposite sides of the collar, these bands passing through the notches or indentations 3, and being easily secured to provide endless bands which effectively hold the shirt upon the board. The use of these bands is not new per se, but the indentations 3 act as a positive means for holding the bands in the exact desired position upon the wrapped shirt and. board as long as the shirt remains upon said board, so as to hold the tail end of the shirt in proper position, and so as to maintain the tension of the shirt upon the bent teeth 2 at the bottom of said shirt. Additionally, as seen from Fig. 5, when a sport shirt is being wrapped upon the shirt board, the ends of said collar of the sport shirt may be disposed underneath the bands M, and will be particularly held down by said bands, which are prevented from slipping off the collar tips.

, I prefer to form in the shirt board, additionally, not only the top indentations 3, but side indentations [5 also of shallow formation, these being formed on the opposite side edges of the 4 shirt board substantially medially between the top and bottom of the board.

These side notches or indentations l5 are provided in the event the shirt is to be packed long fold instead of short fold. However, the shirt still would not slide when packed with the long fold as the springiness of the teeth 2 will prevent this from occurring.

Concerning the form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 6, the shirt board here shown is identical to that illustrated in Fig. 1 with one exception, the formation of the collar-engaging portion of the board. In Fig. 1 open notches 4 are provided. In Fig. 6, the body [6 of the shirt board is instead formed with a pair of inclined slits l1 corresponding in depth and location to the notches 4. The shirt board is otherwise formed with the same dimensions and teeth, indentations, etc., as the first form of the invention.

The formation of the body I and the body It with score lines extending between the bottoms of the notches l and slits i7 respectively is for the purpose of permitting the tongue that engages in the back of the collar to be pulled out of the plane of the body proper by the collar, the back portion of which normally tends to be at a distinct angle, as will be appreciated, relative to the plane of the body proper of the shirt board. At the same time, this scoring gives a uniform spring action to the tongue 6 from side to side of the shirt collar, tending to return the tongue to the plane of the body, which spring action is exerted in opposition to the spring action exerted by the bent teeth 2 at the other end of the shirt board.

What is claimed is:

A shirt board of one piece construction com-- I prising an elongated substantially rectangular body having longitudinally spaced substantially V-shaped notches opening through one longitudinal side edge thereof to define a collar engaging tongue, said body having a band receiving indentation adjacent the opposite ends of said tongue and opening through said longitudinal side edge of said body between said tongue and the adjacent ends of the body, teeth carried by the body and extending outwardly from the side edge thereof remote from the edge having the notches, and said body having band receiving indentations opening through opposite end edges thereof.

KNOWLES YOUNGBLOOD.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 7 Name Date 2,487,761 MCFZLH et a1 NOV. 8, 1949 2,519,380 Kohl Bi] 8.1 Aug. 22, 1950 

